Every new year, as one year ends and another year begins, I always like to review the past year and evaluate what went well. For me, personally, this is more effective than setting New Year's Resolutions because I feel better and more motivated when I look back on the good things that I HAVE been able to accomplish than to think about all the things I wanted to do, but for one reason or another was not able to do. This also makes me more motivated during the year to do things that I will be excited to add to my list of accomplishments at the end of the next year. So here we go:
January-
-Began my internship at the Smithsonian in Washington DC.
-Took part in a bit of history by attending the Inauguration of President Obama
-Made lots of friends with my fellow interns at the Barlow center and at Church in the Washington DC 2nd ward.
February-
-Had lots more adventures in Washington DC-you can read my February post for more details
March-
-Celebrated my 27th birthday
April-
-Hiked "Old Rag" Mountain in Shenandoah National Park
-Enjoyed the Cherry Blossom Festival in DC
-Participated in Graduation ceremonies with my brother Ammon.
(Okay, here is one thing that I admit could have been improved upon, I still have not officially graduated because it has been really hard to stay motivated to finish my last few GE classes as soon as I had hoped. One thing I plan on reporting in my 2010 year in review is an official graduation announcement.)
May
-Showed my brother, Ammon around Washington DC, visited Thomas Jefferson's estate at Monticello, and said goodbye to the city I came to love.
-Visited my sister, Mona, in Madison Wisconsin.
June
-Went to the "Colorado Country Classic" dance event in Denver, Colorado. It was really fun to see some of the professionals dance and to learn a few more dance moves myself. I went with my friend, Jeremy Burgess and had lots of fun there.
July
-Did lots of homework, took an LSAT prep class, and thought a lot about going to Law School.
-Spent time with my family at 2 different family reunions at Bear Lake: one for the extended Johnson Family with all of my aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. And another for just my immediate family with my parents, all my sisters and their spouses and kids, my brother Ammon (Hyrum wasn't there because he's still on his mission in CA). It was great to enjoy the sunshine, nice weather, and beautiful scenery.
-Did more homework
-Went to Wisconsin to babysit my nephews, Bridger and Carter while my sis, Mona and her husband Ben were out of town for Ben's job interviews.
September
-Went to "Desert City Swing" another dance event in Phoenix, AZ. This one was also really fun and really helped me improve my West Coast Swing technique. I hope I can go again next year.
-Signed up for a pre-law internship at an attorney's office in Orem. I learned a lot about what it would be like to be a lawyer.
-Started taking a "ladies only" West Coast Swing class from a great instructor, Shalay Branch. It was tons of fun and I learned a lot.
October
-Finished 2 of my Independent Study classes, studied more for the LSAT
-Went to Wisconsin again to babysit Bridger and Carter again while Mona and Ben did 2nd interviews.
November
-Decided not to take the LSAT because I wasn't going to be ready for it.
-Went to Small Claims court a couple of times and got a little taste of what work in a court room is like.
-Went horseback riding with some friends and fell off my horse because of an equipment malfunction (my cinch strap broke). Despite being sore, (and despite being a little ticked off at some people who shall remain nameless) the horseback riding actually was pretty fun and made me want to learn how to do it better.
-Celebrated Thanksgiving with my family and was reminded of how blessed I am. Life is great!
December
-Finished my pre-law internship and decided that maybe a legal career is NOT for me. At least not at this point in my life. Though I was really excited about my internship at first, as the semester wore on, I was feeling less and less interested in what I was doing and I was having a hard time imagining myself enjoying what I saw my attorney doing day in and day out. It was a great learning experience for me and was exactly what I needed to make an educated decision about whether or not law school was right for me. I have not eliminated Law School as an option altogether. At some point in my life I may reconsider it, but right now I feel that I need to be
doing something that I absolutely love and enjoy doing which right now is real estate.
-Reactivated my Real Estate license and started getting busy building a client base and doing LOTs of BPOs (Broker Price Opinion). I am excited to get back into a business that I love and hope to be very successful at it. I really love working with my Broker and am anxious to help lots of people find homes that are the right fit for them.
-Celebrated Christmas with family in Lewiston, Utah.
-Celebrated New Year's Eve the best way I know how...by DANCING!!!
Books I've read this year: (I'm a little embarrassed that there aren't that many, or else I'm forgetting some)
-The Broker by John Grisham-A fun novel to read while I was in DC.
-He's Just not That into You by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo -I knew the movie was coming out, so I read the book. Its an interesting, slightly exaggerated, but generally true observation about the dating culture in the US.
-To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee-its one of those classics I love reading again and again
-Resistance to Civil Government by Henry David Thoreau-This is not really a book, more a long essay or pamphlet. It was required for one of my classes but was really interesting to read and consider the huge impact this has had on societies all around the world.
Movies I saw this year:
Taken-I liked it. Good action movie.
He's Just Not That into You-I actually liked this movie. Maybe because read the book or because I can relate...;-)
Avatar-My boss said the main avatar girl reminded him of me. I'm not sure why... The animation was pretty cool, I didn't get to see it in 3D, but I liked the movie anyway.
I know I saw more movies, but I can't remember them.
Cities I visited:
Washington DC
Philadelphia, PA
Valley Forge, PA
Charlottesville, VA
Delaplane, VA
Shepherdstown, WV
Martinsburg, WV
Madison, WI
Denver, CO
Phoenix, AZ
If hanging out in an airport counts as visiting a city, I was stuck in Minneapolis MN several times for several hours between Madison and Salt Lake City. PS-if you ever have to have a layover anywhere while flying AVOID the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport AT ALL COSTS! Every experience I had there was a bad one.
Guys that I kissed:
-ha ha! Just kidding. I'm not going to post that here. But I will say that I kissed less guys this year than last year, so depending on how you look at it, that could be either an improvement or a regression. ;-*
So here's to a great 2009 and a hope that 2010 will be even better!
